1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to packaging of photosensitive material, and particularly to a packaging method for light-tightly enclosing and dispensing a roll of photosensitive web material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently, roll film and paper are packaged for roomlight loading into cooperating apparatus in two different ways. One utilizes plastic end plugs for light-shielding the roll ends together with an opaque plastic leader that is wrapped circumferentially around the roll and then withdrawn after the roll has been placed in a light-safe environment. Because those end plugs increase the roll axial length, it has been necessary to modify certain using apparatus in order to accomodate the increased length. Such modification has proven inconvenient and costly for the user. The other way, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,299, avoids use of end plugs by instead utilizing thin, flexible, disk-shaped end covers that are folded and heat-sealed to both the roll core ends and a laminated-plastic circumferential wrapper, the wrapper then being torn away from its end-cover seals after the roll has been secured in a light-safe environment. This approach avoids modifying the using apparatus, but the folding and sealing steps required in the packaging process are complex and costly for the manufacturer.
There has thus existed a need for a simpler, more practical, efficient, economical, and convenient alternative to the above methods, preferably such an alternative that obviates any modification of using apparatus and, as well, any sealing of a circumferential cover element to another part of the package, thereby benefiting both the user and the manufacturer.